[C320-list] Threading the second reefing line

[Graeme Clark]

Firstly I am aware that there are some articles on this and diagrams within the website but I believe they don't quite address the specific problem I have!

For clarity this does NOT relate to the first reef which utilises the travelling block within the boom; this is the second reef.

On our 320 this travels from the cockpit, through a block,** up through the reefing cringle (eye) in the sail, back down to another block at the mast base,** up to a pulley at the mast end of the boom, along the boom to the aft  end, around another pulley up to the aft reefing cringle, through that and back down to be tied off around the boom.

The critical part of the routing I am unsure of is the bit between the ** asterisks above!

We have found that if the line is routed so both parts (i.e. leading up to and down from the mast-end cringle) are to the starboard side of the boom, then when attempting to reef and tighten things up so that the aft cringle is tensioned towards the aft end of the boom (so that sail foot isn't too baggy and full) what actually happens is that - because of the friction in the setup) the (forward) cringle just gets pulled down , well below the level of the boom -  towards the deck (sort of like a Cunningham!).  Yes, you get a nice tight luff but no tension at the back of the sail so a very full and baggy sail which probably isn't what you want if the wind was strong enough to need two reefs!

So we then tried moving it so the line routes up from the deck on the starboard side of the boom, through the forward cringle and down the port side of the boom.  The problem now is that tensioning the line pulls it up hard against the edge of the casting that connects the boom to mast and across the battens and slides and basically the line chafes!

Even like this the friction is still huge and makes any meaningful attempt at using the reefing line like an outhaul, pretty useless! We have tried other routings to no avail!

is there another way - what do others do?

I hope the above explanation is capable of being followed  - I wish we could post pics to this list!

Thanks

Graeme
#306, 1996.